Failure is more than an option in rocket science — it’s a necessity

Recently, two events — the second attempt by Intuitive Machines to land on the moon and the eighth test of the SpaceX Starship — proved an old adage: Rocket science is really hard.

Both of these examples took place on the same day, March 6.

First, a Texas company called Intuitive Machines attempted to land its Athena spacecraft on the Mons Mouton region of the lunar south pole. However, the laser range finders of the vehicle failed, placing it 250 meters away from its intended landing site, in the midst of a sloped crater. Like Intuitive Machines’ first attempt, the Odysseus, this lander fell on its side. Although Athena returned some data and an image, it was unable to recharge its batteries and was therefore lost in short order.

Later that day, SpaceX launched the eighth test of its Starship super rocket. At first, the flight went well, with the Super Heavy first stage separating from the Starship second stage and being caught on the ground by the Mechazilla “chopsticks.” Then things took a horrible turn. The Starship suffered a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” In what seemed like a repeat of the previous test flight, pieces of the giant rocket streaked across the sky over Florida and the Bahamas.

Space.com notes that several of the Starship’s Raptor engines failed, sending the vehicle into a tumble before it exploded.

NPR has an analysis of the principle that with commercial companies like Intuitive Machines and SpaceX, failure is an option. That phrase is a play on words from a line from the movie Apollo 13 when Gene Krantz, the NASA flight director states “Failure is not an option” referring to the effort to get the crew of that stricken moon mission home.

NASA attempts to execute projects that have to work the first time. This approach involves endless reviews and ground testing before anything is deployed in space. The disadvantage of this method is that it is often time-consuming and costly.

The space agency built the International Space Station and the James Webb Space Telescope which, though billions over budget and years behind schedule, are returning great value. The Space Launch System, however, is proving to be an impediment to returning to the moon, despite the fact that it has flown once and is scheduled to fly again at least twice.

The commercial sector, to which NASA has contracted projects such as spacecraft to take people and cargo to and from the International Space Station and lunar landers, robotic and eventually crewed, take a different approach. Failure is definitely an option. Indeed, it is a necessity. Only through failure does one learn the lessons that lead to success.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon and the Firefly Blue Ghost lunar lander are successes that prove the efficacy of the commercial approach.

Thus, Intuitive Machines must learn from its second “incomplete success” in a row and, hopefully, stick the landing on its third attempt, to take place as early as late in 2025 but probably in early 2026.

SpaceX has a bigger problem. Starship, for all practical purposes, is on the critical path to returning to the moon and then going to Mars. For all the talk of a last-minute build of a smaller lunar lander, without Starship, astronauts are not going to walk on the moon or Mars anytime soon.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also has a public relations problem, brought on, in part, by ire against his DOGE operation to decrease the size of government. Whether it’s MSNBC personalities mocking the latest Starship failure or Micheal Myers being trotted out on Saturday Night Live to play him as a reboot of Dr. Evil, Musk has been on the receiving end of snark from certain quarters. The snark is over and above the fire-bombing of Tesla dealerships and the recent cyberattack on X.

Even President Trump has taken notice. He has started to get wobbly on Musk’s most fervent desire to send humans to Mars.

Fortunately, Musk can help himself and SpaceX by learning from past failures and racking up some successes. SpaceX already has mastered catching the Super Heavy with the Mechazilla “chopsticks” out of thin air. Now it needs to have the Starship fly to where it’s intended and not blow up. Starship needs to become operational to carry humankind to the moon, Mars and beyond.

Musk has faced failure before and has overcome it. No one will likely make any money betting against him doing it again.

Mark R. Whittington is the author of “Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?” as well as “The Moon, Mars and Beyond,” and, most recently, “Why is America Going Back to the Moon?” He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner.

Topics

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